Bachelor of Data Science for Business
Bachelor of Data Science for Business
The Bachelor Programmes are three-year full-time studies, each of which comprises 60 credits. In total, a Bachelor's degree program comprises 180 credits. The credits are in accordance with the European ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) system.
The Bachelor of Data Science for Business is a three-year-full time program where the students will attain a solid first degree in international business administration and specialize in digital analysis techniques applied in a business context.
Students will upon completion of the program have knowledge about different aspects of international business management in a cultural, behavioural, theoretical, practical, and sustainable context.
A series of courses devoted to teaching applied programming and data analysis techniques gives the students substantial hands-on digital skills. In the last semesters of the program they are taught courses where they learn to apply these techniques to specific areas in marketing, accounting, finance and economics. The students are not only taught to apply analysis techniques, but also the required skills to gather and organize the relevant data and the skills to present the results of their analyses.
Students will upon completion of the program have the ability to solve complex business problems by using critical and analytical thinking, problem solving, data analysis and the analysis of models using simulation techniques.
After finishing the program, students may pursue a career in business, where employees with a combination of business skills and digital skills are in high demand, or they may use the bachelor degree as basis for master level studies in Business or Quantitative Finance. The program is taught entirely in English, and the student population is highly international and culturally diverse.
A BA student:
- has acquired a broad knowledge in business management in an international context from both a theoretical and practical standpoint.
- has acquired basic knowledge in mathematics, programming, statistics, data analysis and research methodology – including how relevant tools are used in order to gather, organize and analyze data from a variety of sources.
- has acquired broad knowledge about how various data analysis techniques are applied in accounting, finance, marketing and economics.
- has up-to-date knowledge about how the digital transformation is affecting modern societies and economies, in particular through the growth in available data, the rapid expansion of capacity for artificial intelligence and the growth in financial technology.
A BA student:
- is an experienced and competent user of a bundle of relevant digital tools like Python, Excel and Matlab.
- can extract data from databases internal to firms and public sources, like the web, and organize data obtained from various sources in an adequate manner
- can analyze data using relevant best-practice techniques in business, economics and finance, including modern methods of analysis such as machine learning and quasi-experimental techniques
- can present the content in analyses, both the assumptions and the choice of methodology, and the results, both written and in oral form.
- can evaluate different forms of risk and their consequences in decision-making.
A BA student:
- is aware of his/her own values and how these affect one’s behavior and decisions
- demonstrates the ability of analytical and critical thinking
- demonstrates ethical awareness
- understands how processes and decisions affects, and are affected by, resources, context, and values
- understands the ethical and legal privacy concerns associated with handling business data
- understands the difference between correlation and causation and the difficulties in obtaining credible estimates of how policies affect outcomes from non-experimental data
- has reflected upon the challenges and opportunities created by the rapid expansion of capacity for artificial intelligence
The Bachelor Programmes at BI Norwegian Business School are, as a rule, composed of 75 credits with Basis courses (common courses for all or more programmes), 75 credits with Program courses adapted to the individual study program, and 30 credits with elective courses. The minimum course size is 7.5 credits.
As a general rule, it is possible to change the bachelor's program after the first year of study. However, it may be necessary to take additional courses.
Students can enter the programmes after the 1st and 2nd year from other colleges, provided that they have covered the necessary subject areas or undertake to take necessary courses as well. Specific requirements for the subject composition are prepared for each study program.
To obtain a Bachelor's degree from BI, at least 60 credits must be acquired at BI Norwegian School of Management.
For students who are admitted to full-time multi-year programmes, there is a requirement for study progression in order to be able to move on to the next academic year. The requirements are:
A minimum of 30 credits (50%) must be completed and passed after the first year of study in order to be approved to the 2nd year.
A minimum of 60 credits (50%) must be completed and passed after the second year of study in order to be approved to 3rd year.
Some studies may require higher progression than this. The requirements for study progression for each study program are specified in the study contract. Students who do not satisfy the requirement for study progression are offered a one-year stay to address missing subjects and exams.
Workload
BI Norwegian Business School has set the norm that a full-time student should spend 1,600 hours per year. years of their studies. This means that a course of 7.5 credits will require a work effort of 200 hours including teaching, supervision, self-effort and examination. This is in line with the European standard set out in the Bologna Declaration. One of the key criteria is that credits can only be achieved through completed and passed work with an associated assessment of the performance and the learning outcome in relation to learning goals (= expected learning outcomes).